A shaving soap made in Portugal , by the same company which makes the Antiga Barbearia de Bairro shaving soap , Castelbell.I couldnt resist myself after reading so many good reviews , from http://www.shaveabuck.com , and I'm very gld I did , since it has a scent which could compete hand by hand with some of my fav UK ones , like Geo F Trumper Eucris or Taylor of Old Bond Street Jermyn St.

This soap comes like the good English shaving creams (Truefitt and Hill and Geo F Trumper comes to mind ) , with a carboard box and a plastic tube with 125 g (4.4 oz) of product.

The texture of this shaving soap reminds me of Van der Hagen or even the Col Conk shaving soaps , but checking the ingredients I see why this could be :

By its ingredients looks like a "pour and melt" type of soap , and this one contains SLS and lanolin on its formulation , like most of the Portuguese shaving creams made by Claus Porto and Aquiles Brito.The lather is made in no time , thanks to the SLS and the skin care properties are very high , due to the lanolin content.

You can read on the instructions that the scent is a mixed of citrics , cedar and amber , which creates an exceptional fragrance , which have conquered me just right away.This mixed of various notes makes a fresh , while invigorating scent , with character , elegance , style , class , and its perfect to use all year around.As I have pointed , this one could compete hand by hand with my beloved Taylor of Old Bond Street Jermyn Street and Geo F Trumper shaving soaps scents/colognes and , even , win , since I like that its a little bit fresher.For me , also , this scent is more sophisticated than the one from the O Melhor or Veleiro shaving creams.

And how does it lathers ? A picture is worth a 1.000 words.Here using a Truefitt and Hill 1/1 silvertip shaving brush and loaded for 15 seconds.You dont need a lot of soap to create a lot of lather , so Im sure it last more than I even realize :

And this is the final lather , after a minute :

This shaving soap reminds me of the old Santa Maria La Novella (the lanolin version) shaving cream , since the skin care and the easiness to make lather is very , very high.
The lather is extremely slick , something I could noticed right away on my first shave with it (and I like it , to be honest).This soap contains also Kaolin , which makes the razor glide with no effort at all.I didnt suffered from any skin dryeness (I didnt used the pre shave oil) , either any irritation or redness.Excellent !

If we combine a scent which is simply superb , with a great skin care properties , we have a shaving soap could be playing on a major league.OK , contains SLS , an ingredient that could be put some people off , but the lather I can get from it , the skin care , and the scent are total winners on my personal book of preferences.

Is it better than the Portuguese shaving creams like O Melhor , Veleiro , Top Secret...? Maybe not , but its scent is much better than any of those shaving creams , but the Musgo Real Classic.For me shaving its a time to pamper myself , and to enjoy a shaving cream or soap with a very nice scent is a must these days , and this Portus Cale shaving soap fits the bill perfectly.A shaving soap much better in skin care and scent than its brother , the Antiga Barbearia de Bairro one , and could be found for 26 dollars , which is cheaper than some of the UK shaving creams , like Truefitt and Hill and Geo F Trumper.

SLS burns my skin like there's no tomorrow. I have to say that this stuff really looks a lot more like a solid shaving cream (much like Dr. Selby's) than an actual soap. But what matters is that it works for you, after all, so I'm glad to see that it creates beautiful lather regardless!

The ingredients look more like a shaving detergent than a real soap and for that reason I will pass. I used to like VdH Luxury soap as well, but that has been pushed to the side for the same reason. I believe that a shaving soap is easy enough to formulate, without all these other additives, and perform as intended. Once the Propylene Glycol, SLS and sucrose (really?)get added into the mix I lose all interest in trying it. I even got rid of all my shaving creams with silicates and other unnecessary ingredients.

(12-09-2013, 10:45 AM)blzrfn Wrote: The ingredients look more like a shaving detergent than a real soap and for that reason I will pass. I used to like VdH Luxury soap as well, but that has been pushed to the side for the same reason. I believe that a shaving soap is easy enough to formulate, without all these other additives, and perform as intended. Once the Propylene Glycol, SLS and sucrose (really?)get added into the mix I lose all interest in trying it. I even got rid of all my shaving creams with silicates and other unnecessary ingredients.

+1.

Propylene glycol as the first ingredient means that this is not really a shaving soap. Sounds like a really nicely fragranced version of VDH.

My skin is also very sensitive to SLS and even to SLES (which is what is in this) so it would be a no-go for me.

(12-09-2013, 10:45 AM)blzrfn Wrote: The ingredients look more like a shaving detergent than a real soap and for that reason I will pass. I used to like VdH Luxury soap as well, but that has been pushed to the side for the same reason. I believe that a shaving soap is easy enough to formulate, without all these other additives, and perform as intended. Once the Propylene Glycol, SLS and sucrose (really?)get added into the mix I lose all interest in trying it. I even got rid of all my shaving creams with silicates and other unnecessary ingredients.

+1, ridiculous the lengths a company will go to try to be number one. As soon as I saw Propylene Glycol that was it. And when Sodium Lauel Sulfate, or any of it's derivatives are added it's time to run away. Makes one wonder how our relatives made soap suds back in wet shaving's heyday. These are the exact ingredients that have caused me to go to artisan soaps and sometimes if you visit a site like etsy.com you will see an "All Natural" artisan seller of soaps who uses Propylene Glycol.
I saw a laxative awhile back that was 100% Propylene Glycol......